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So your desire is something between the capabilities of a laptop and a tablet ?BTW to you what are the weaknesses,as you see them, of the laptop over a tablet ?

Laptops have greater processor speed and storage space, and more RAM. They can accommodate more robust software packages (Photoshop and Illustrator are RAM hogs). The weaknesses are portability and battery life.

Laptops have greater processor speed and storage space, and more RAM. They can accommodate more robust software packages (Photoshop and Illustrator are RAM hogs). The weaknesses are portability and battery life.

" Portability and Battery Life" ?Laptops are as portable as tablets are and battery life will improve over time .Most of these things will run from the power supplied by built in solar panels that work from ambient light available in offices today.

Ram is only used in processing as in running a program.They store the data temporarily as a working set.Real data Storage is either a hard drive or flash memory. The processors used in the tablets are actually quite robust and capable of processing digital photos or highly detailed graphic maps .

My thesis is that tablets of various types will all demand greater capabilities,storage and processing power so as to eventually become full tablet computers. The same processing power of a laptop but with a single sided display and data entry by both stylus and keyboard .

The trend is to prop the tablets up in some kind of a case to optimize the viewing angle, supplies charging, an external qwerty keyboard and mouse to emulate current laptops.Then as need arises to take the tablet to the customer and demonstrate the work accomplished .

It turns out to be impractical when compared to a high end laptop that can accomplish the same thing today ....Tablets are a step between an ebook reader and a laptop,a technological tour de force .

" Portability and Battery Life" ?Laptops are as portable as tablets are and battery life will improve over time .Most of these things will run from the power supplied by built in solar panels that work from ambient light available in offices today.

It depends on the laptop. My personal one is a 17", and the army issues 15" laptops, both of which are much heavier than a tablet. I agree with you on the battery life, although I'm not as optimistic about the effectiveness of solar panels. You'd need a pretty big panel to power a tablet, which would tend to undercut the portability.

Originally Posted by megimoo

Ram is only used in processing as in running a program.They store the data temporarily as a working set.Real data Storage is either a hard drive or flash memory. The processors used in the tablets are actually quite robust and capable of processing digital photos or highly detailed graphic maps .

My first computer was a 386 that I tricked out for windows 3.1, so I've got a pretty good understanding of the difference between RAM and ROM (as we used to call it). Eventually, I suspect that someone will realize that a terrabyte flash drive can be used for RAM and storage, at which point you will eliminate any seek time. The processors are good for tablet functions, but for me, the acid test is doing Photoshop for print resolution (300 DPI), which means processing files that can get over 100MB. Processing video, where files sizes can exceed a GB is also a considerating. I can do that on my laptop, but a tablet just doesn't have the processing power for that kind of work, at least not yet.

Originally Posted by megimoo

My thesis is that tablets of various types will all demand greater capabilities,storage and processing power so as to eventually become full tablet computers. The same processing power of a laptop but with a single sided display and data entry by both stylus and keyboard .

What we're seeing is a convergence of platforms, not just in terms of performance, but also in terms of connectivity and compatibility. When MACs run Windows on Intel processors, there's really not much difference between the systems, and I don't know of any major software package that isn't written for both. Tablets run many of the same applications as phones and laptops, and the convergence there is happening even more rapidly.

Originally Posted by megimoo

The trend is to prop the tablets up in some kind of a case to optimize the viewing angle, supplies charging, an external qwerty keyboard and mouse to emulate current laptops.Then as need arises to take the tablet to the customer and demonstrate the work accomplished .

It turns out to be impractical when compared to a high end laptop that can accomplish the same thing today ....Tablets are a step between an ebook reader and a laptop,a technological tour de force .

Agreed. Eventually, the only difference between a tablet, a laptop and a smart phone will be the size of the screen and the interface.

I still see the tablet being a niche market for several years. people are buying it because it's a fad more than anything. it has it's uses but it's generally a large cellphone without the ability to call people (except through skype). Once they are one the level of current laptops in the form of processing power then I can see them catching on, particularly if they have a dedicated keyboard similar to that of a Kindle that doesn't take up a ton of space. I have hear the complaint that it's incredibly difficult to do any kind of typing on a tablet due to this lack, with the lack of USB connectors on the first Ipad it hampered it's usability as well

I still see the tablet being a niche market for several years. people are buying it because it's a fad more than anything. it has it's uses but it's generally a large cellphone without the ability to call people (except through skype). Once they are one the level of current laptops in the form of processing power then I can see them catching on, particularly if they have a dedicated keyboard similar to that of a Kindle that doesn't take up a ton of space. I have hear the complaint that it's incredibly difficult to do any kind of typing on a tablet due to this lack, with the lack of USB connectors on the first Ipad it hampered it's usability as well

like PDA's

One does not greet death when he knocks at your door.

Nay you repeatedly punch him in the throat as he slowly drags you away.